Social media marketing is more important than ever before — while also being more complex. In the rapidly changing world of digital marketing, social media might take the cake for being fast paced. New platforms spring up almost overnight, businesses and people go viral for good and bad reasons, best practices change regularly due to updates in algorithms and policies.
For businesses looking to develop an effective social media marketing plan, it can be challenging to know where to start. You may think it’s possible to simply set up a few business accounts on the most popular platforms and hope for the best, but that won’t always give you the best chance of success. Like any other aspect of your business, social media marketing requires careful planning and hard work to execute.
It can also be highly beneficial to work with experienced social media experts. By taking advantage of years of focused experience and dedicated resources, your business or organization can become a social media marketing powerhouse and do so on a cost-effective basis.
Practical steps to social media marketing success
To help you better understand how to do social media marketing right, here are the key steps that successful businesses and their partners take:
- Develop a strategy — Start with a full audit of your existing social media efforts as well as your broader marketing efforts. What are you trying to accomplish on social media? Creating brand awareness? Generating leads? Community management? How are you accomplishing this currently and where can social media fit? By identifying and prioritizing your main objectives, you can start to clarify your action plan.
- Know your audience — You also need to analyze and segment your target audience. By understanding basic demographics, habits and the content they’re likely to consume, you can better understand how to reach them on social media.
- Create goals — Determine how much of your marketing budget you are willing to spend on social media and the concrete results you are expecting. It’s important to understand that even softer goals like community management still require resource investment to do properly.
- Choose your platforms — Once you know who you’re trying to reach and why you’re trying to reach them, it can be easier to determine the right platforms. For example, a business-to-business audience might respond better on LinkedIn while younger people are more likely to be found on Instagram. You should also consider your brand image and the leaders and experts you may want to highlight.
- Build a content plan — Create content that reflects your business authentically while also providing your target audience with useful and helpful information. Posting consistently will ensure the best chance of visibility and engagement.
- Collect data, analyze and act — Successful social media marketing requires testing, reporting, analytics and reaction. Make adjustments based on what works and what doesn’t to continually refine your strategy and tactics.
Are you looking for a trusted partner to guide you on these steps? We’re here to help.
Burg & Co. Marketing can help you develop personalized social media marketing
We specialize in the full range of digital marketing channels, with an emphasis on social media to help businesses tell their story in a complex digital environment. At Burg & Co. we also respect the value of your marketing investment and will strive to provide the tools and resources to help achieve your business goals on a cost-effective basis.
Contact us today to learn more and schedule your free marketing consultation.
